” en 
— \ 
BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CamBRIDGE, Massacuusetts, Marcu 1, 1940 VoL. 8, No. 3 
NOTE ON THE GERMINATION OF 
NEPENTHES SEEDS SOWN ON AGAR 
BY 
JOHN N. Porter 
THe writer was supplied with seeds of a species of 
Nepenthes which had been collected August 8, 1937 by 
Professor C.'T. Brues of Harvard University. The exact 
place of collection was the slope of Mt. Sapoeton on the 
northern end of the island of Celebes in the Dutch East 
Indies. This species was growing at an elevation of ap- 
proximately 4500 ft. in cindery, undulating, open country, 
and the plants from which the seeds were obtained had 
produced pitchers which were between five and six inches 
in length. 
The seeds were sown November 5, 1937 on a sterile 
agar medium of the formula reeommended by Knudson’ 
for orchid seeds. Of necessity, all aseptic precautions were 
taken and the seeds were sterilized for twenty minutes 
in a solution of calcium hypochlorite in which ten grams 
of this substance were shaken with 140 ¢.c. of distilled 
water. Perhaps the seeds should have been left even long- 
' Knudson, L. Nonsymbiotic germination of orchid seeds. Bot. 
Gaz. 73: 1-25. 1922. 
Ca(NO3)2 .. . . 1.00gm. (NH4)2SO4 . . . 0.50 gm. 
K2HPOs .... .0.25 “ Sucrose... . . 20.00 “‘ 
MgSO4.7H20. . . 0.25 “ Agee op 3 O:. “e008: -* 
BepOi ss « 0,05 -™* Dist.water. . . . 1,000 c.c. 
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